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Our Genealogy Helper

Introduction ...

We have a couple of goals for our Gazetteer:

  • That it be a tool which helps us with planning our trips.
  • We're trying to shape our Gazetteer as a tool to help us understand the community in which our ancestors lived, the community that was part of their daily lives.
  • On our trips, we try to visit those places where our ancestors left their footprints.

By learning about Atkins (and the surrounding area) during the time that our ancestors lived, we hope to have a better understanding of both their community and its relationship to their lifes. We hope that this tool helps to give us an insight into their world.

As we add data and organize our Gazetteer to help with our family research, we will be adding to this our Genealogical Helper for Atkins. While we don't have information that is specific to any given person or family, we intend to expand our understanding about where and how people lived.

Neighboring Counties ...

When searching for family records, we have frequently made the mistake of not checking the neighboring counties.

For example, we have great-grandparents who lived in the northeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors were in the next county to the east. Almost all of the nearby churches and cemeteries were in the county to the north.

So when searching for records, we had our best success by looking in neighboring counties instead of the county in which they lived:  their home county contained property and probate records; the county to the east contained birth and death records; the county to the north contained their burial records. If we hadn't included the neighboring counties, we would have missed many valuable sources of information.

If you're in a similar situation, we hope that the following information helps.

Atkins is located in Benton County.

To see how the shape of Iowa's counties may have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Benton County: Black Hawk, Buchanan, Iowa, Johnson, Linn, Poweshiek & Tama.

Below are the counties that are near Atkins. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Atkins:

  • Benton County     (The home county of Atkins)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Atkins, with the one closest to Atkins listed first.
    • Newhall
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Shellsburg
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Norway
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Watkins
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Benton City ‑ Historic
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
      • Benton City is located in Benton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Benton City
    • Van Horne
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Blairstown
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Vinton
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Urbana
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Garrison
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Garrison is located in Benton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garrison
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 355 people
    • Keystone
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Luzerne
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Spencers Grove
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
  • Black Hawk County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Atkins, with the one closest to Atkins listed first.
    • La Porte City
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Jubilee
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Jubilee is located in Black Hawk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jubilee
  • Buchanan County
  • Delaware County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Atkins, with the one closest to Atkins listed first.
    • Ehler
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Ehler is located in Delaware County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ehler
    • Robinson
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Iowa County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Atkins, with the one closest to Atkins listed first.
    • Amana
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Middle Amana
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • West Amana
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • South Amana
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Marengo
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Conroy
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
      • Conroy is located in Iowa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Conroy
    • Dayton
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Dayton is located in Iowa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dayton
    • Williamsburg
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
    • Ladora
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
    • Parnell
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
  • Johnson County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Atkins, with the one closest to Atkins listed first.
    • Swisher
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Shueyville
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Shueyville is located in Johnson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shueyville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 655 people
    • Cou Falls
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Oxford
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • North Liberty
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Solon
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Solon is located in Johnson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Solon
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,771 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Solon <1>
    • Tiffin
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Oakdale
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
      • Oakdale is located in Johnson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oakdale
    • Coralville
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Cosgrove
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
    • Windham
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Morse
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Iowa City
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Jones County
  • Linn County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Atkins, with the one closest to Atkins listed first.
    • Covington
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Palo
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Cedar Hills
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Fairfax
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Grand View Village
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Grand View Village is located in Linn County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grand View Village
    • Walford
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Hiawatha
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Cedar Rapids
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Louisa
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
      • Louisa is located in Linn County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Louisa
    • Sunset Village
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
      • Sunset Village is located in Linn County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunset Village
    • Toddville
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Robins
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Robins is located in Linn County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Robins
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,570 people
    • Lincolnway Village
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Lincolnway Village is located in Linn County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lincolnway Village
  • Poweshiek County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Atkins, with the one closest to Atkins listed first.
    • Hartwick
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Victor
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Tama County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Atkins, with the one closest to Atkins listed first.
    • Elberon
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
    • Dysart
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Vining
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • Chelsea
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Clutier
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)

For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Atkins, see our County-by-County Page for Atkins.

Cemeteries Near Atkins ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Atkins.

This is a new section and is likely to have errors. If you find an error, such as a missing cemetery or we have the wrong name, please let us know. If you know of them, we would also appreciate learning about previous or alternate names.

Although we don't have the information ourselves, if you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our list of websites on our Genealogy Helper Page for Atkins - one of the links might be able to help.

If not found below, our Cemetery List for Atkins covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Atkins, with the one closest to Atkins listed first.

Nearby Communities in 1895 ...

We've built the following list with information that came from an Atlas published by Rand McNally in 1895. The Atlas had details such as the population of the community (which appears to have come from the 1890 Census) and whether there was a post office and/or railroad service available. We also indicate if the community no longer exists and is now historic.<4>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Atkins had a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Atkins had a population of 1,978 people.

These communities are listed based on their distance from Atkins, with the one closest to Atkins listed first.

We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Atkins. See our List of 1890's Communities around Atkins.

Newspapers Published in Atkins ...

An ongoing effort between the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has resulted in the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP).

To share their results, the partnership has created the Chronicling America website. The goal of this partnership is to assemble a database about the current and historic newspapers of the United States. This includes a growing collection of scanned images from selected papers. All of it available to the public on their website.

Using information that we've taken from the Chronicling America website, we've identified 86 newspapers that have been published in the area around Atkins.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Atkins, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Atkins.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These helpful websites offer the information directly or else point to where you can find it. Their information is open to everyone.

To help you get started, the following links will take you to the pages that are relevant to Atkins:

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Atkins) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>The Find-a-Grave website is an excellent research tool with information about a cemetery's location and interments. They also offer a forum for their members which can provide additional help. More information about Find-a-Grave can be found on their website: findagrave.com.
<4>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Atkins, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.